IJN Aikoku Maru - 愛国丸Micronesia,Asia
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Aikoku
Maru was laid down at Mitsui Tamano shipyard in December
1938, and was launched in April 1940. She was quickly
requisitioned by the Japanese Imperial navy, and converted
to an armed merchant cruiser. Four 150mm and two 76,2 mm
cannons and machine guns were installed, together with
torpedo tubes. During second world war, she served as a
merchant raider, uboat tender and transport ship. In 1942
she participated in capturing the transport ship Hauraki outside
Ceylon, among several other vessels sunk or captured
during the war. 17.February 1944 she was sunk after being
hit four times by bombs and a torpedo by American planes
from USS Intrepid. She disappeared in the deep together
with more than 900 people. In the 1980s, an expedition
retrieved the remains of approx four hundred men. The
remains of the wreck, the bow is long gone rest today on a
depth of 40 to 64 meters resting on her keel.
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 Picture: INJ Aikoku Maru in 1942 Courtesy of Wikipedia, Public domain  Last updated: December 2019 |
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